Operation Litani - First Israeli Invasion of South Lebanon

On 11 March 1978, a group of Palestinian fighters (among them Dalal al-Mughrabi, a young Palestinian-Lebanese woman) left Lebanon, landed in northern Israel, and undertook the Coastal Road attack, in which 38 Israeli civilians were killed. In response, Israel invaded Lebanon on 14 March 1978 in an operation known as Operation Litani with the objective to remove the Palestinian bases along the Lebanese-Israeli border. The Israeli Army took control of Lebanon south of the Litani River until 13 June. Already before the Litani Operation, Christian-led border militias had formed in south Lebanon, but with the Israeli invasion, the militia formed in the Free Lebanon Army lead by Saad Haddad, declared on 28 March 1978, later named the South Lebanon Army (SLA). When Israel withdrew to a security strip along the border with Lebanon on 13 June 1978, it turned over positions and supported the SLA: the Israeli-supported SLA and Israeli presence continued in South Lebanon until the withdrawal in May 2000. This Israeli invasion of Lebanon also prompted the formation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that remains in South Lebanon until today.